Working with layer opacity

Now, that we've been introduced to the topic of layers and also layertransparency, what I want to do here is start to take a look at how we can beginto work with layers, and I want to work with this photograph here.This is a picture of one of my good friends, Matt Kloskowski.He's actually written a great book on layers, so that would be fitting to use this picture.Well, over here in the Layers panel, before we start to click around, what I wantto do is change the way these layers are displayed.You can do that by right-clicking or Ctrl-clicking in the Layers panel, and hereI'm going to choose a larger thumbnail size, I'll choose Large Thumbnails.

You can see my layer thumbnails are now much bigger.Sometimes this is helpful in order to be able to actually see what's in the panel.You can always change this by simply right-clicking or Ctrl-clicking and thenchoosing a different option as well.Okay, we'll go back to that Large Thumbnail option because it's good for demos.You notice that Background layer has its visibility turned on.Next, I'm going to turn on the visibility of this layer, clean up, and a littlebit of color adjustment.Here, we can see that before and then after.Basically, removing his tag and then changing the color of the lens a little bit.

Next, I have a color adjustment layer.This particular layer really warms things up, so it changes the color and tone--kind of did something which looks a little bit like fire.Here, we can see the before, and now then the after.Well, if you click in a layer, you have some controls which allow you to control it.We talked a little bit about transparency, and in Photoshop, they refer to that by opacity.Well, if something is opaque, you can't see through it. Well, you can decrease itsopacity and make it more transparent.

For example, with this color adjustment layer, if we click and drag the sliderto the left, well, now we're going to have less of a color effect, and you can seeI'm slowly diminishing that.Here is 8%, and then bring it up to 100 by way of comparison.We can also duplicate layers. We can do so a couple of different ways.You can either click and drag this to the New layer icon, or you can pressCommand+J or Ctrl+J. By doing that, it will then duplicate the layer.Here, you can see I've stacked up or increased this color effect byduplicating the layer.

We can also turn off the visibility of these layers if we want to diminishthis, or we could target one of these layers that we've turned on, and we couldjust lower the opacity so that we can then control how much color we'rebringing into our picture.Well, next, up top we have two layers which have some text in them, layers andthen layers are cool.Well, let's say that I want to move these layers around. Well, we can click inthis graphic layer here, and with our Move tool selected, we can go ahead andclick and drag to reposition this.

We can also do the same thing with this layer.We'll go ahead and again click and drag to change that location.Well, if ever you want to move two layers together, just hold down the Command orCtrl key, and then click on both layers.With two or more layer selected, you can then move them by simply clicking and dragging.You can also change some characteristics about the layers.For example, we could decrease the opacity so that these will become moretransparent, and we can do that two layers at a time, or you can just target onelayer and modify its opacity by itself. And you can see how I can do this bysimply clicking and changing that opacity amount.

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Author

Released

4/26/2012

In Photoshop CS6 for Photographers, author, photographer, and teacher Chris Orwig explores Photoshop from the perspective of the photographer.

The course details the features and techniques behind enhancing and retouching photos, preparing them for print and online publishing, and much more. Chris demonstrates how to make basic edits in Camera Raw, develop and save color profiles, work with layers and selections, tone and sharpen, and retouch images while retaining their natural character.

Chris also shares some creative tips and project ideas, such as converting a photo to black-and-white and enhancing a portrait with hand-painted masks. The course also covers workflow details, such as organizing images in Bridge and Mini Bridge, optimizing Photoshop preferences, and calibrating your monitor.